A Happy Easter Exposé

Bribery as a proselytizing tool is the Conspiracy i see at prolific play in Christianity.

Easter is just another reminder of this manipulative tactic in annual use. Santa enticing children with presents and the Easter Bunny with candy. Similar to the baiting you see with missionaries in third world countries. Similar to some of the approaches i have witnessed used first hand on me... in "befriending" a "lost" brother or sister... as covered/discussed in my thread Dracula's Christians. If we all paused and shed our cultural conditioning for a moment these sneaky underhanded recruitment drives are more then a bit creepy. Consider how children are seduced and lied to, in order to prey on their developmental weaknesses.

If we could look at Easter more objectively, this children's book parody is an accurate reflection of Christian culture today:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/610553715f18.jpg[/atsimg]

Crazy? ...yes i'm afraid so... but maybe that's in part due to the fact that like Christmas, Easter was chosen to integrate those outside of the christian faith by incorporating their holidays into the faith by adding a veneer that redirected the meaning of the day. Originally a 'pagan' celebration of the coming of spring. Eggs were used as a symbol of fertility and new life, Christian's shifted the meaning to mean "rebirth of Christ" which is not a big step. Which also explains the non-sequitur of jesus = eggs + bunny?

[edit on 10-4-2009 by The All Seeing I]

Now... let's go one step further. Our corporations and government lend a helping hand in the encouragement of selling this holiday, because it fuels their bottom line as well. Review the following segment from the documentary The Corporation to take a closer look at how this is done.

Marketing has transformed itself into a sophisticated, pervasive force that extends into every part of our lives. Slick advertising campaigns are designed for the express purpose of manipulating children into buying products and training them to become mindless consumers of goods they don't really want. The Nag factor, a marketing study that evaluated the effect of nagging, was designed to teach children how to nag more effectively.

Consumers are made, not born.

just as well...
Believers are made, not born.


[edit on 10-4-2009 by The All Seeing I]

Holy cow is the only way I can respond to the posted picture of that book. That's horrible but at the same time made me chuckle because of how true it can be in some cases.

Anyhow, I would like to wish you a happy easter regardless. People probably question why Christians celebrate the day Jesus was crucified, but in truth, it is really worth celebration. Without that, we would be nothing, and it's a sombering thought to know that someone perfect and sinless died for you and for me.

But I'm not here to cram stuff you don't want down your throat, so have a good holiday and fun with your family!
Peace

Great points! I see it as a constant movement between threats, bribery, and guilt: believe this or else the devil has your soul for eternity/ hey-- who wants presents and candy/ see the statue of that man suffering and dying a slow, agonizing death-- he did it all for YOU so act grateful and fall into line.

Originally posted by The All Seeing I
... but maybe that's in part due to the fact that like Christmas, Easter was chosen to integrate those outside of the christian faith by incorporating their holidays into the faith by adding a veneer that redirected the meaning of the day. Originally a 'pagan' celebration of the coming of spring. Eggs were used as a symbol of fertility and new life, Christian's shifted the meaning to mean "rebirth of Christ" which is not a big step. Which also explains the non-sequitur of jesus = eggs + bunny?

[edit on 10-4-2009 by The All Seeing I]

I do not think that integration of pagan celebrations was necessarily intentional. I believe that that it happened over time gradually. Correct me if I'm wrong please.

There isabsolutely no problem whatsoever with Christianity developing "pagan" holiday's by enlightening them with the truth of revelation. "Congratulating" ancient cultures if you will, human reason and the inherent desire for God which through reason discovered the truth in so far as it could be understood without direct revelation. God is the creator of all things so don't be surprised if His fingerprints are all over it, in the change of seasons, motions of the heavens etc. etc. It's all there to be discovered by reason and understanding completed by Revelation.

As the First Vatican Council (1869) expresses it:

4. Now reason, does indeed when it seeks persistently, piously and soberly, achieve by God's gift some understanding, and that most profitable, of the mysteries, whether by analogy from what it knows naturally, or from the connection of these mysteries with one another and with the final end of humanity; but reason is never rendered capable of penetrating these mysteries in the way in which it penetrates those truths which form its proper object.

For the divine mysteries, by their very nature, so far surpass the created understanding that, even when a revelation has been given and accepted by faith, they remain covered by the veil of that same faith and wrapped, as it were, in a certain obscurity, as long as in this mortal life we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, and not by sight.

Session III, Ch. 4, Para. 4 (The whole thing, quite brief, is really worth reading.)

As for the commercialisation of these seasons, well a bit more condemnation of commercialism would be more appropriate than of faith and religion. Faith did quite well without the commercialisation of these highly significant event's before the last 150 years. Indeed its the commodification of every aspect of people's lifes, including fertility, which has seen the decline in morality and abandonment of a faith which looks beyond the momentary satisfactions offered by commerce.

Easter isn't Christian. Resurrection Sunday is Christian. Either reading the Bible or researching the origins of the word Easter itself should reveal the chasm of differences.

reply to post by For(Home)Country

...and Happy Spring Equinox to you too.
May your crops and kin be fertile... and may i add "mind" as well.

reply to post by Iamonlyhuman

Intentional yes... or we could just call the effort to absorb your competition a form of evolution.


Now for those who are sketchy on the origins of Easter,
the beginning goes much deeper, broader and further back then pagan:




[edit on 10-4-2009 by The All Seeing I]

Originally posted by saint4God
Easter isn't Christian. Resurrection Sunday is Christian.

The origin of "Sunday" is derived from the name of the Scandinavian sun Goddess Sunna, and from "Sól the Roman God of the Sun"... who was appropriately given a day in his name...

"Dies Solis" which is Roman for the "day of the Sun."

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/816d9332339d.jpg[/atsimg]

Source:

Rome in Late Antiquity examines the city's radical transformation from the capital of the classical Roman empire to the center of medieval Christendom. Between the early fourth and early sixth century, Rome faced the ordeals of destruction and the impoverishment of its population, while churches came to dominate where once there had been pagan temples and imperial monuments. Bertrand Lançon's evocative depictions of everyday life for inhabitants, popes, and aristocrats capture the vitality of the city in flux during these three crucial centuries. First published in French, Lançon's nuanced account of this turbulent period in Rome's past combines elegant prose with meticulous scholarship. Also inlcludes six maps.

Rome in Late Antiquity
By Bertrand Lançon, Mark Humphries, Antonia Nevill
Translated by Antonia Nevill
ISBN 0415929768, 9780415929769
224 pages

[edit on 11-4-2009 by The All Seeing I]

Originally posted by The All Seeing I
Bribery as a proselytizing tool is the Conspiracy i see at prolific play in Christianity.

Easter is just another reminder of this manipulative tactic in annual use. Santa enticing children with presents and the Easter Bunny with candy. Similar to the baiting you see with missionaries in third world countries. Similar to some of the approaches i have witnessed used first hand on me... in "befriending" a "lost" brother or sister... as covered/discussed in my thread Dracula's Christians. If we all paused and shed our cultural conditioning for a moment these sneaky underhanded recruitment drives are more then a bit creepy. Consider how children are seduced and lied to, in order to prey on their developmental weaknesses.

If we could look at Easter more objectively, this children's book parody is an accurate reflection of Christian culture today:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/610553715f18.jpg[/atsimg]

Crazy? ...yes i'm afraid so... but maybe that's in part due to the fact that like Christmas, Easter was chosen to integrate those outside of the christian faith by incorporating their holidays into the faith by adding a veneer that redirected the meaning of the day. Originally a 'pagan' celebration of the coming of spring. Eggs were used as a symbol of fertility and new life, Christian's shifted the meaning to mean "rebirth of Christ" which is not a big step. Which also explains the non-sequitur of jesus = eggs + bunny?

[edit on 10-4-2009 by The All Seeing I]

The eggs and bunny is because Easter was stolen from the pagans. This was the pagan fertility holiday, until christians eradicated the pagans, and implemented their holidays to make the FORCED transition to christianity more enticing.

To keep the language current on an old promise...

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/7c6549852cf0.jpg[/atsimg]

When i think of the whole idea of jesus leaving... only to return again... i can't help but think of the classic Xmas song most of us have heard of but never looked at closely... within this context shows you how the basic premise translates from childhood to adulthood. The continuation of brainwashing is complete and thorough.

You better watch out
You better not cry
Better not pout
I'm telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town
He's making a list
And checking it twice;
Gonna find out Who's naughty and nice
Santa Claus is coming to town
He sees you when you're sleeping
He knows when you're awake
He knows if you've been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake!
O! You better watch out!
You better not cry
Better not pout
I'm telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town
Santa Claus is coming to town

Now remember, Santa was make-believe
but Jesus... now he's real and is really going to come to town some day
so in the meantime "be good for goodness sake"
for he is watching you and making a list
of who will go to hell with their bag of flaming coal
and who will go to heaven with their boxes of presents

[edit on 12-4-2009 by The All Seeing I]

Originally posted by Iamonlyhuman

Originally posted by The All Seeing I
... but maybe that's in part due to the fact that like Christmas, Easter was chosen to integrate those outside of the christian faith by incorporating their holidays into the faith by adding a veneer that redirected the meaning of the day. Originally a 'pagan' celebration of the coming of spring. Eggs were used as a symbol of fertility and new life, Christian's shifted the meaning to mean "rebirth of Christ" which is not a big step. Which also explains the non-sequitur of jesus = eggs + bunny?

[edit on 10-4-2009 by The All Seeing I]

I do not think that integration of pagan celebrations was necessarily intentional. I believe that that it happened over time gradually. Correct me if I'm wrong please.

no it was intentional, they wanted to convert the Saxons and other pagans to there false religion, and so put there fake holy days on already pagan celebrations like Christmas and Easter Etc Etc

*Edit to add*

while this may not be about Christmas i would like to add that it has been scientifically proven by scientist and astrologist that the "birth" of Jesus was not even close to December but i believe around march-June, and also his "resurrection" wouldn't have been close to the Easter year either

thats even if you believe in any of that religion.. which i don't

[edit on 12-4-2009 by Darth_Prime]

reply to post by Darth_Prime


Just shows you how fiction and history have a lot in common when written by many controlling hands over a long period of time... there is a whole lot of play on the "facts"... and the older the story the more fudged the details.

What also strikes me to be peculiar is how ruthless the church was in their business dealings... to essentially steal from competing belief systems in an effort to maximize their bottom line... while at the same time condemning those who followed these other belief systems.

For those interested in the current discrepancies over jesus's b-day...
'Jesus was born in June', astronomers claim

Talk about being manipulative---My family and I aren't Christian, and we don't celebrate Easter. My 15 yr old daughter asked me today if we were going to have a big dinner for Easter. I said, no, why? Thinking she was feeling left out of the "Easter scene", I asked her why should we celebrate Easter if we don't believe? She said that wasn't it---she admitted to manipulating me by using Easter dinner as a way to guilt me into making her mashed potatoes, because she loves them, and I haven't made them in a while.

What the heck, I'll make her mashed potatoes, but not because it's Easter.

reply to post by virraszto


Wow a 15yr old hustling her mom for veggies!?
Those must be some kiss-ass mash potatoes
also evidence that you have good communication
A priceless story, very cute, funny and quite insightful.

A mild display of how these christian centered events have the power to rope in the kids to get to the parents... I can see that she understood the social dynamics at play during this time of the year and made the connection that she only sees her favorite dish at "special" events. Such as when the family gets together to eat and socialize, "hmmm what a prime opportunity to get some of those magic mash potatoes"

This is on the harmless flattery end of the scale... imagine her trying to cox you into going to the Holy Land amusement park or the Creation Museum for some special exhibit/presentation where jesus makes mashed potates from rocks

on that note...
Happy Spring Equinox
May you, your little lady and loved ones be fertile in mind, body, heart and soul.

Originally posted by Supercertari
God is the creator of all things so don't be surprised if His fingerprints are all over it, in the change of seasons, motions of the heavens etc. etc.
...
As for the commercialisation of these seasons, well a bit more condemnation of commercialism would be more appropriate than of faith and religion.

Man is the creator of these stories. To say god is the author of all that has been written is a nonsensical cop-out. The celebrations of modern Easter's decorative-egg-hunting-bunny evolved from the mythic Germanic Goddess of Springtime, Ostara, (Oestre / Eastre), who was very popular with the Anglo-Saxon people, who worshiped her under the name Eostre.

"In ancient Anglo-Saxon myth, Ostara is the personification of the rising sun. In that capacity she is associated with the spring and is considered to be a fertility goddess. She is the friend of all children and to amuse then she changed her pet bird into a rabbit. This rabbit brought forth brightly colored eggs, which the goddess gave to the children as gifts. From her name and rites the festival of Easter is derived."

source: www.pantheon.org...

Am i the only one who sees the irony in the holiest day in Christian faith, dedicated to celebrating the Son of God, is named after a goddess and that this "greatest story ever told," simultaneously serves as a mecca of commerce for chocolate barons, dress/hat makers and basket weavers? I think it would be very naive to think that two of the biggest religious holidays of the year are also two of the most commercial, is just some happen chance coincidence. Proselytizing is one of the central duties as a good christian, and apparently by any means possible... i suppose selling out and use of trickery can be easily forgiven by christ, you are saving lives from an eternity in hell after all.

[edit on 12-4-2009 by The All Seeing I]

Originally posted by For(Home)Country
People probably question why Christians celebrate the day Jesus was crucified,

Actually I was wondering more about the bunnies and eggs.. (Not really but I doubt many Christians understand the symbolism.)

I'm waiting for Santa Claus mythology to finally mesh with traditional Christian mythology. Like Santa Claus in the stable delivering the baby Jesus from the "virgin" Mary, and instead of the three wise men giving Jesus gifts, Santa just takes his magical bag after he's delivered Jesus and gives EVERY child in the world a gift. After all, it IS Jesus' birthday.... right?

Without that, we would be nothing

Same if Atlas ever drops our planet. I wonder why we don't give him a holy day anymore?

Originally posted by bsbray11

 

I'm waiting for Santa Claus mythology to finally mesh with traditional Christian mythology. Like Santa Claus in the stable delivering the baby Jesus from the "virgin" Mary, and instead of the three wise men giving Jesus gifts, Santa just takes his magical bag after he's delivered Jesus and gives EVERY child in the world a gift. After all, it IS Jesus' birthday.... right?

Brilliant... this could very well be the case over time

You just reminded me of a few parodies that technically aren't parodies at all when you consider how accurate their illustration is of reality. You could say this dark comedy writes itself.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/68091dba785d.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/a7fa549d402a.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/c224656fe5b1.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/849d71ae898a.jpg[/atsimg]

This is one of the most pointless threads I've seen on ATS. As mentioned previously, it's the resurrection that's being celebrated on Resurrection Sunday (not Jesus' death). There's no discussion, just comics for athiests. When serious discussion ensues, perhaps that would give more cause to participate. Hope you find peace to end your bitterness someday, The All Seeing I.

[edit on 15-4-2009 by saint4God]

reply to post by saint4God

To say the thread is pointless is a cop out. There is plenty of serious discussion to partake in here, all you have to do is choose to acknowledge it... start by opening your eyes... which should lead to opening your mind.

Maybe you'd care to reply to:

Am i the only one who sees the irony in the holiest day in Christian faith, dedicated to celebrating the Son of God, is named after a goddess and that this "greatest story ever told," simultaneously serves as a mecca of commerce for chocolate barons, dress/hat makers and basket weavers? I think it would be very naive to think that two of the biggest religious holidays of the year are also two of the most commercial, is just some happen chance coincidence. Proselytizing is one of the central duties as a good christian, and apparently by any means possible... i suppose selling out and use of trickery can be easily forgiven by christ, you are saving lives from an eternity in hell after all.

...or maybe you could share your thoughts on the OP or any of the videos or pictures provided... instead of making a pointless post about supposedly being "pointless" and righteously wishing me "peace of mind" on this issue... in other words you are telling me to "stop questioning the hypocrisy and all the nonsense". So i will wish in direct response to your wish, that i wish you to do what we all came here to do... which is to Deny Ignorance, and in this thread to question the motives and origins behind this fabrication of a holiday.